Only a few days after finishing a 3 week Balkans-Ride (former Yugoslavia) on a little G31 , things haven't settled yet for anything close to a balanced and considered write up about the pros+cons of the fairly new entry-level GS.

With two G31's in a fleet of 650/700/800 GS's, singles and twins, and being pretty familiar with all of those from lengthy previous rides, there is at least some sort of fair and somewhat "founded" base in the scribbles below.

Read it or skip it....but for something raw and purely emotional, read on.

The Pro's: For a 6ft frame and 100kg rider, this little thing is surprisingly 'roomy'.
Not generous....but adequate.
Yes, I cramped badly after the first few days (and so did Goodie with her 5'10" frame), but some Magnesium-capsules did the trick and eased the next 2 weeks.
Going was slow due to, basically, 3. world road conditions and full luggage (panniers and topbox).
I also used a tiny Dainese "man-bag" modded to take a generous Motech map-pocket for 3 weeks of navigational bits, notes, maps etc., in effect a micro tankbag with a humongous map pocket. It was a punt that paid off, the small tank-dome not really offering space for anything more elaborate.

The rental-mob in Bucharest had reluctantly fitted the model-specific Shad- boxes to both G31's.
Racks : https://goo.gl/vPPc4b
boxes: https://goo.gl/dnMEHA
The boxes fitted were the 36l panniers with some 42+45l top-boxes.

The panniers are surprisingly roomy despite their shape, but are a PITA to actually mount to the frames every morning, very awkward.... the topboxes are fine though.

The "man"-/ tank-bag just stayed in place for the whole 3 weeks and was only partially removed for fueling (snap-buckle).

The 310cc single is no powerhouse!!...BUT....keep the little shitter humming and plan your moves well ahead, and this thing moves along around most speed-limits, town or country-roads. You really keep fishing for a 7. and 8. cogs after the first hour or so, though....the little mill is buzzy and busy trying to hang in there, dealing with overtakes, trucks and general traffic.

2-up/ pillion: Small excursions up steep and loose gravel roads (luggage included) are no problem...as is an hour or two of tight and twisty mountain roads on bad and badly potholed pavement. Not fast, but surprisingly ok.

The Cons:
It can, ...and does. hang with traffic...but it comes at a cost. It's tiring on the rider, the riding day should preferably end by about 2pm latest.
The small single just hasn't got engine braking nor the guts/ torque of a Big Thumper to level things across a traveling-day, that gearbox wants to be stirred relentlessly and after 3 weeks the callouses on the clutch-hand are as lumpy as on the gas-hand.
This is intense...the little GS needs to be "worked" every inch of the way.

Electronics: Both G31's showed strong hesitation to fire up on cold mornings...both dashboards displayed either nothing at all...or total garbage at most times... just to come good for 30 mins when you thought it'd be "another one of those days...and hopefully the friggin fuel-gauge is accurate, don't care about the rest").

Indian and German electronics seem to marry well, both seem highly prone to fark-ups! (going by previous experiences).

The ABS is clearly built to comply with new regulations only...not to actually work.Or maybe it's another part of the systemic electronics screw-ups.
Just turn it off permanently right away and be done with it...it's garbage.
After 4500k's I still can't work out what the thing wants to do at what stage...it's worse than useless, it's dangerous! TURN IT OFF!!

Check the tyre-pressures more frequently than usual... wheels seem to strangely lose pressure devoid of any damage/ flats...maybe the rims are porous enough to "bleed" air-pressure
The front anchors are piss-weak (considering the weight pushing?) and the rear locks up at will, no "stomping" required".
In the end I gave up on the rear-anchor (and ABS) altogether and only used the front (ABS disabled).
As always, it's easy enough to ride around the crappy stuff once familiarized.

Suspension:....yeah, well, there's supposed to be some of that, too...(see electronics, just ride around the shortfalls).

All up:
The Baby-GS is not a bad, 'lil boike!. It does surprisingly well for its size and punches well above its weight in a lot of ways (i.e. luggage capacity, ergos etc).
BUT..it is a 300 single and therefore has its limitations.
PERIOD!
Most/ much of the "modern' attributes (EFI/ ABS etc etc) have a long way to go to actually become an asset...at this stage they're simply a liability and rather detract from the good points.